The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Gaillardia plant, also known as a blanket flower, a herbaceous perennial that is grown for use as an ornamental landscape and container plant. The new variety is known botanically as Gaillardia×grandiflora and will be referred to hereinafter by the variety name ‘Celebration’. Gaillardia is in the family Compositae, under which the commonly referred to “flower” is actually the inflorescence, and made up of smaller ray florets and disc florets. The ray florets themselves have the appearance of petals.
‘Celebration’ originated and was selected from a large population of hybrid seedlings from a Gaillardia breeding program which was started by the inventors in 2006. The breeding program was conducted in a greenhouse nursery in West Sussex, United Kingdom. The aims of the breeding program were to produce novel combinations of flower colors and flower forms which are borne on well-branched plants with sturdy growth habits. The controlled hybridization was carried out using combinations of selected named varieties and selected unnamed and unreleased seedlings retained from previous breeding cycles. The hybridization which led to the selection of ‘Celebration’ was carried out during 2007 using Gaillardia ‘Burgunder’ (unpatented) as the male parent and a proprietary unreleased Gaillardia seedling known as ‘G5’ (unpatented) as the female parent. ‘Celebration’ was selected in 2009 for its bright red ray flowers, which are produced continually from May through November in the United Kingdom. ‘Celebration’ was also selected for its compact mounding habit and clean dark green foliage.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘Celebration’ was first accomplished in October 2009. The method of asexual propagation used was shoot cuttings taken from the lateral branches of plants which were growing in an unheated greenhouse in West Sussex, United Kingdom. Subsequent asexual propagations have been carried out in the same greenhouse using both vegetative cuttings and root cuttings. ‘Celebration’ has been determined to be stable and reproduces true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction by both vegetative cuttings and root cuttings.